TACLOBAN CITY – To ensure the safety of the residents living near the Cabayongan River basin in the town of Jaro, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH – Leyte 2nd District Engineering Office (L2DEO) has constructed a flood control structure and drainage system along the river banks.

District Engineer Leo Edward Oppura said that the P54.66 million flood control structure will serve as a defense in the event of a raging flood brought on by intense rains thus saving people’s lives and properties.

The structure will also lessen the livestock and crop losses and guard against damage to farmlands, all of which support local agricultural economies and food security.

Furthermore, a 428-meter in 4.5-meter tall revetment flood control structure was constructed in the said project as protection against strong currents and to prevent riverbank erosion.

Oppura said that communities need flood control structures such as revetments to prevent further damage to water-logged areas and to mitigate erosion and scouring on river banks during floods and high-velocity river streams.
(LIZBETH ANN A. ABELLA)

TACLOBAN CITY – The city government of Borongan has vowed its full support to all student-athletes who will represent the city in next year’s Eastern Visayas Regional Athletic Association (EVRAA).

The city government vowed to provide more and better sports equipment for their training and will push for bigger funds and ensure the officials’ presence for the duration of the event to be held in Ormoc City in April 2024.

This was declared by city administrator, lawyer Celestino Cabato during the closing of the three-week-long Dukwag Sports Festival city meet last December 7 which was used as the basis for the selection of the representatives for the regional sports event.

“The city government will always support sports activities of the Borongan City division. It is our mandate also at the LGU (local government unit) that we must support sports activities of the Department of Education,” he said, representing Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda and Vice Mayor Emmanuel Tiu Sonco.

“We will lobby for a higher budget allocation for our athletes who will participate in the EVRAA. I have witnessed the EVRAA meet in some places throughout Eastern Visayas and their officials are there to support and give due recognition and moral, financial and other support for athletes. By 2024, we must see to it that our city officials must join,” added Cabato.

The city in next year’s EVRAA will be represented by 138 elementary student-athletes who will compete in sports such as arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, chess, football, gymnastics, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and volleyball.

A total of 252 high school student-athletes will also represent the city in the secondary division competing in archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, basketball 3×3, billiards, chess, dance sport, football, futsal, gymnastics, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, wushu and volleyball.

These athletes were gold medalists during the Dukwag City Meet.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)

MAASIN CITY– Governor Damian Mercado of the province of Southern Leyte expressed his full desire for the province to become self-sufficient in terms of producing enough food for its people within the next decade, in the near future.

In his State of the Province Address (SOP) on Monday, December 4, at the provincial gym, Mercado let out a vision of a province that can stand on its own food supply by the year 2025 or by 2030, and some possible strategies to make it happen.

He emphasized that even if other neighboring provinces have a scarcity of their own food due to various causes, such as the spread of a contagious disease like the Asian Swine Fever (ASF), the province will not be affected.

“In our agricultural sector, our goals for this year mainly include the production increase of essential agricultural goods in the province and the establishment of a multi-species hatchery and tilapia fry dispersal,” the governor said.

He zeroed in on the multi-species fish hatchery, whose completion will certainly boost the production of many kinds of fishes along the stretch of the Sogod Bay sea, not just limited to bangus.

Aside from that, he mentioned continuing efforts at fortifying livestock supply such as the dispersal of broiler and native chickens along with the distribution of feeds, and the establishment of a Swine Multiplier Techno Demo Farm through the provincial veterinary office, for a steady, quality supply of meat and related products.

Individual hog raisers may access good breed of sows from the techno demo farm through the dispersal program, and be assured of healthy piglets, it was learned.

On rice production, Mercado said rice farmers especially in the pacific area, the rice granary of the province, will have continued support of certified seeds with accompanying fertilizers.

In addition to pitching a vision of a food-sufficient province, Mercado highlighted in his speech major projects, programs, and activities, particularly in the areas of finance, real properties management, infrastructure, social services, agriculture, veterinary services, environmental management, tourism, peace and order, education, health, disaster risk reduction and management, and local governance. (MMP/PIA8-Southern Leyte)